True passion is essential to making great shoes. From design to production and retail, we apply the utmost attention to detail. ECCO builds its success on uncompromising quality, innovative technology and design. Throughout our history, our philosophy has been to make shoes that are shaped to fit the foot, not the other way around. This is who we are.

Unique to our industry, we make leather at our own tanneries as leather is a fundamental component of most ECCO shoes. Since 1985, ECCO Leather has grown to become one of the world’s largest producers of quality leather. Only top quality leathers are produced at ECCO’s tanneries, which supply our shoe factories and other demanding high-end brands.

What started out as a test for ECCO in 2002 to complete the offer of our retail stores has turned into a full-time commitment to build up a stand-alone Accessories business that both complements and strengthens the ECCO brand and completes our presence in the retail environment. We offer high quality, tailor made ECCO Shoe accessories, leather care products and premium leather goods, delivering a full brand expression from a Care range to socks, belts, wallets and desirable everyday bags through timeless Danish design and unique leathers. Our Leather Goods embody a distinct brand identity that is truly ECCO; unmistakable Danish design with intuitive functionality and premium leather, made from our own tanneries.

OUR VISION IS TO BE THE LEADING PREMIUM BRAND FOR SHOES AND LEATHER GOODS

Our Values

At ECCO we are guided by respect for our heritage, our call for innovation, our quest for excellence, our dedication to care, and our passion.

We care about creating and maintaining strong, positive relationships with our colleagues, our partners, our customers and the societies in which we live and work with respect for diversity.

Our work is based on quality craftsmanship, and we challenge convention in our strive for uniqueness.

Our Technology

FLUIDFORM™ TECHNOLOGY

Developed by ECCO over three decades, FLUIDFORM™ is a technology that enables us to create ergonomically advanced soles. By injecting a resilient, shock-absorbent material directly into the shoe mould, we bond the sole to the upper instantly and seamlessly, without the compromises common with glued or stitched assemblies. The result is a reliable and durable union between the upper and the sole unit, which offers a finely-tuned balance of cushioning and rebound.

OUR HISTORY

Ambition without compromise

Karl Toosbuy – the founder of ECCO – had a dream. He wanted to own a shoe factory and run his own business. Trained from an early age as a shoemaker, he gradually rose through the ranks and by his early 30’ies was managing a shoe factory in Copenhagen. The business, however, was not his.

The family decided to give up the security of a regular job, sell their home and move to Bredebro on the west coast of Denmark, just north of the German border. Karl and Birte Toosbuy and their 5-year-old daughter, Hanni, rented a small house and took over an empty factory built by the local community to help create jobs in what was a predominantly agricultural town.

Farmland stretched for miles around the small factory building on the outskirts of Bredebro where Birte and Karl Toosbuy had assembled a small team to get production up and running. Initially limited to ladies’ shoes under the Venus brand, it was a tough start. The Toosbuys worked extremely long hours, tackled endless problems and sometimes doubted whether they would succeed.

The first real breakthrough came in the late 1970s when ECCO’s designer Ejnar Truelsen created the “JOKE”. This was followed by a series of other revolutionary shoes, some of which are still in production today. Karl Toosbuy bought his first direct injection machine to apply high-tech production technology to the business. So confident was he in the machine that he bought a second one before the results from the first had materialised.

OWNERSHIP

It all began in 1963 with Birte and Karl Toosbuy's dream to create a shoe company driven by Danish Design and the philosophy of form follows function. A company that would own its own production and control its own destiny. To this day, ECCO is still owned by the Toosbuy Kasprzak family.

Chairman of the Supervisory Board is Hanni Toosbuy Kasprzak, daughter of Birte and Karl Toosbuy. In 2017 a third generation member of the family, André Kasprzak, joined the Supervisory Board.

ECCO’s success is built on Karl Toosbuy’s unstoppable energy, commitment and drive. A shoemaker at heart, Karl Toosbuy spearheaded ECCO until the late 80’s. But as the company expanded rapidly, Karl Toosbuy delegated the role as CEO.

OUR FACTORIES

CHINA

ECCO’s Xiamen shoe factory was established in 2005. The factory is located in Tong’an some 35 km from the island of Xiamen in southern China. A coastal site was chosen to support easy access to export facilities and because the Xiamen metro area with its 5.1 million inhabitants could provide a large local labour pool to ensure a long-term and stable workforce.

VIETNAM

The factory in Vietnam is the newest and smallest of our factories. It was established on a trial basis medio 2015, and it began producing shoe uppers in May 2016. In October 2016 the factory officially became part of ECCO’s global supply chain. The uppers produced are sent to our sister factories for montage.
Vietnam is strategically located near our supply chains in Thailand and China as well as near major retail markets such as China and Japan. The factory is situated north of Ho Chi Minh City in the Binh Duong province.

INDONESIA

Our shoe factory in Indonesia was established as ECCO’s first Asian-based factory in 1990. The factory is located in Sidoarjo (near Surabaya) on the eastern side of Java Island. This location was chosen due to the good local supply of high quality hides and the many craftsmen in the area due to an already existing shoe industry.

PORTUGAL

In 1984, ECCO established a production subsidiary in João de Vêr, Portugal. This site was ECCO’s first owned and operated shoe factory outside Denmark. Portugal was at the time already a major player in the European footwear industry, which made it easy to recruit specialist staff.

THAILAND

Our shoe factory in Ayutthaya, just north of Bangkok, was established in 1993. Thailand was chosen due to its high level of shoe industry craftsmanship.
In October 2011, a severe flooding hit Thailand and ECCO’s factory. With huge efforts from all involved the production in Ayutthaya was restarted already in March 2012. During 2013, the factory was completely modernised and refurbished to support a high-quality, efficient production set-up.

SLOVAKIA

Our shoe factory in Slovakia was established in 1998. The factory is located in Martin in the northern part of Slovakia. Martin is one of Slovakia’s larger cities with a good infrastructure and a well-educated workforce.

OUR TANNERIES

How we make shoes

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/Our design philosophy

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/Leather

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/Craftmanship

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/Direct Injection

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/Retail

Retail

ECCO owns and manages practically every aspect of the value chain from tanneries and shoe manufacturing to wholesale and retail activities.

ECCO’s products are sold in 90 countries from over 2,200 ECCO shops and more than 14,000 sales points.